Need help with Camera Selection

Hi guys,

looking for a point and shoot style camera for one of my kids for xmas. Budget is $100 or less, I have seen some of the big name brands and I am wondering if there are some other little gems I am missing that are out there.

Basic needs - Macro mode - minimum 12 megapixel - flash - at least 3x optical zoom.

Thanks for the help

the last two new cameras i bought were off of Craig’s List.
new in the box with all manuals and equipment.

depending upon the ages of your children,
that might be an economical option.
……they were $10 each.

kodak pixpro on amazoncamera

Macro is extremely uncommon in cameras in that price range. But good luck.

Kodak PIXPRO Friendly Zoom FZ53-BK 16MP Digital Camera with 5X Optical Zoom and 2.7" LCD Screen (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CG62CCE/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_g_SP6SDRJWA0WYN0GR4459

The point and shoot camera market has been almost completely eradicated by smart phones.

Yeah, my $80 smart phone takes pretty good photos, but it only has 8 megapixels, no macro mode, and no optical zoom.

Honest to B’harni (pbuh!), unless you need to do 100%-crop shots with perfect focus right down to the pixel level, all those megapixels is a waste, and just a numbers game. And they just eat up SD card space to limit how many pix you can stuff on one. Those numbers are useless “bragging rights”.

A friend of mine takes panorama shots with his old ~3Mpx Nikon, and if he really “needs” to (rarely), he’ll hit it once with very mild auto-sharpen to effectively double the #px of the shot without giving things eerie outlines. And other than cropping to “shape” the pic, he uses his shots almost unedited.

You can save a bunch of bux by getting a slightly older model (eg, the “2000” vs the “2100” of whatever), to get essentially the same functions but at ¾ the cost of the latest’n’greatest. Concentrate on good optix over “specifications”.

My Nikon setup has most of the bux invested in the glass. My D3000 and D7000 are all I really need. Doubt I’ll ever get a newer camera body, and ’though I’m pretty much set for glass, I might be tempted with a specialty lens, but at this point I doubt it.

An old friend of mine used/uses a simple Canon point’n’shoot (forgot the model) and took absolutely fantastic pix (she “has the eye for it”), even though by her own admission she wouldn’t know an f-stop from a bus-stop.

If your main concern is macro and your kid is sufficiently patient to learn, you can actually get amazingly good results with old DSLRs and their kit lenses via 2 cheap methods:

- extension tubes with 18-55mm lens

  • close-up lens (e.g. Raynox DCR 150) with small kit tele e.g. 55-200mm

The camera and lens can be 10 years old and these results should blow out of the water a macro mode. Option 1 is cheaper, though 2 is my preferred. No name brand extension tubes are probably okay but no name brand close up lenses are total trash

I’m a photographer but I can’t help you much. I can give you a few tips.
Get a used camera. You can literally get a new in box camera for half the money, including warranty.
That means you can either but two cameras,buy one and save the money or get a better camera for the same price, which most people do.
Check ads, ebay, Facebook marketplace.
Can’t tell you which model to get but years ago I had a… Panasonic? P&S that had the specs you mentioned so anything you buy will be better than that. Just don’t buy an instant camera.
The problem is that the best time to buy a camera is after Christmas because people need money and they sell presents they don’t need or want. That’s when you get better deals then on black Friday.

You could look for Panasonic FZ model cameras. Those are ultra zooms that look Semi-Professional but aren’t too big. The picture quality is decent and because of the better built quality compared to point and shoot cameras they don’t show wear as easily, meaning the camera might look fresh even though used.

The good part is that they have a fixed lens that goes from wide to Telezoom, there’s video recording, built-in flash, macro,raw capture, creative modes, automatic and manual modes. That means that you have advanced features and you don’t have to get a new camera as soon as you start getting into photography. Point and shoot cameras have basic interface.

This style of cameras are the best without spending hundreds or thousands for better cameras.

What you want to find is someone who bought a camera for vacations or what not but never used it because of ronna or whatever and now they’re selling it almost pristine.
There’s a lot of such deals out there, you just have to look a few times a day for a week or two.

Another option for macro photography is an old manual focus lens. If you can find a used DSLR or mirrorless body, you can get old Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Minolta -compatible glass for really cheap, and an adapter on Amazon for your modern body.

I just got a 28-80 Access-brand macro manual focus lens with a Minolta MD/Rokkor mount for $7 at a thrift store. It’s manual focus, but most macro photography requires manual focus, anyway. And a lot of it requires manual exposure, and DoF preview. That’s why macro in a sub-$100 camera is almost unheard of. Those cameras frequently don’t even have any of those features, because that’s not who they’re target market is. So, making the lens much bigger and more expensive to give it macro capability makes no sense.

thanks everyone for the comments. I will have some homework to do. He just turned 15 and has a Fuji 7.1 mp now. That is point and shoot. He really likes the physical format but needs something at least a little better for his college art class doing photoshop stuff.

I will look into used dslr and see what I can come up with. Not much here on craigslist. Small town on the Oregon Coast.

actually would something like this work ?
https://oregoncoast.craigslist.org/pho/d/bandon-sony-a100-digital-camera/7389708804.html

One of the best photogs I knew back on WU used an Alpha as his carry-with camera, and did some amazing stuff.

A good camera isn’t gonna make anyone an Ansel Adams. The “bus-stop” person I mentioned had a lowly Canon p&s and shot some amazing pix.

https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

Those Sony α DSLRs have the same lens mount as old Minolta SLRs. That means there’s a lot of great vintage glass available that can be used with that camera, including macro lenses.

I would also recommend Canon or Nikon if you can because if your son wants to upgrade, it’s very easy. Huge used market. In Nikon I would like for something like a d5000 or d3100.

Having said that, the Sony DSLR stuff should be dirt cheap as the system is dead. Just make sure you can get batteries, could be an issue with a very old camera.

Also I think pop-up flash has value for beginner macro, using a basic cheap diffuser.

Have a look at old DSLRs. They are more comfortable to use than p&s and are upgradable. The lens is usually more important than the camera itseld. You can definitely get a some camera with a kit lens for $100, but probably some kit lenses are better than others. I used canon 18-135 and had no complaints, but can’t recommend it as haven’t tried other lenses. In my opinion, the most important thing that gets better in cameras is high ISO. Megapixels are less important. With your budget you’ll probably get 12-18mp which is enough unless heavy cropping is needed. For macro you will need a set of extension rings which should be cheap.

A used DSLR is a great idea as others have suggested.
The big boys - Adorama and BH have large used depts. I prefer BH.

Roberts Camera used dept is very well though of (UsedPhotoPro).
The best part is the ability to return and have a warranty.

Unfortunately The BUG has really dried up the used market as opposed to a year and a half ago. Still there are bargains to be found.

It’s the lens that makes the camera, not the other way round. If fancier cameras are in his future, he should investigate the brand he wishes to grow into and buy accordingly.

At 15, he should be able to master full manual controls. Which will be required in any advanced photo classes.
Manual control will let him take full advantage on any photo opportunity.
All the Best,
Jeff

Meant to add…
Any mirror type DSLR is pretty much a dead end. The world is shifting to mirror-less.
So take that into account when deciding how much to sink into bodies and lenses. If you go the DSLR route.

That Sony you linked to, with the zoom lens will get to .25x (I think) at 70mm which is fairly good for a kit lens.
Meaning an object 8mm across will be 2mm projected onto the sensor.

Macro is often misused when describing camera and lens features.
How close does he need to get? Fill the frame with a grapefruit, apple, golf-ball, grape, raisin …?
All the Best,
Jeff

Thanks again doing more research, He has been shooting lego men in scenes he creates out in the yard and other nature things, bugs , abstract stuff